Glow
by The Rabid Bunny
Summary: Sakura goes out of her way to heal a shinobi, and then he thanks her. Rated T for language and threat of bodily harm.


**A/N: Oh, my God! What is this? She's doing another one-shot!? I know, it's crazy, huh? Well, this is for my great love, _earthbender068 (I've ogt your back, on any decision you make sister)_. She needed some support, and by golly here it is. I apologize that it's not my usual smuttiness, but it is quite romantical. So, enjoy dearies.**

**I do not own Naruto.**

Glow

"Naruto, get a rope! If he won't lie still long enough for me to heal him, he'll bleed to death!"

Haruno Sakura had never in her life been accused of being patient or ambivalent. Especially since she had taken her place at the top of her village's medical corp. As a specially trained medical ninja, she ranked in at advanced jounin level and had even made a name for herself in a few of their rival villages' bingo books. She was often times placed right up top with Hatake Kakashi, one of Konoha's most famous assassin ninja, and Uzumaki Naruto, her best friend and Konoha's most hot-tempered unstable shinobi. Of all of the shinobi in opposing bingo books, their little trio boasted the highest bounties. And Sakura was the highest ranked kunoichi...period.

Of course, it was only natural that the three of them were ranked at the top, considering that Sakura and Naruto had been on the same genin squad after graduating from the academy. And that Kakashi had trained them.

Right now Sakura found herself using every tactic that the Copy-Nin have ever taught her in keeping her emotions calm in stressful situations. But it was so hard when her patient was being completely idiotic.

"I swear he's an even bigger cry-baby than Kakashi when it comes to spending any time in the hospital." She crossed her arms over her chest, huffing a stray strand of pink hair from her eyes. Great, it had taken forever to get the mop that was her hair into just the right style that would not bring attention to her over developed forehead. Now it was ruined because she'd had to wrestle with the moronic ninja who was currently backed into the corner of his hospital room.

Naruto's eyes narrowed at Sakura's tone. She was very quickly moving from slightly agitated to furiously seething, and he really didn't want to be here when her head exploded. The telltale tic in her left eye was starting, and a small vein above said eye was throbbing violently. He scratched the back of his head wondering how Sakura had ever made it as a medic. The girl had very little compassion, and her nature definitely did not involve nurturing whatsoever. Those qualities alone made her a stellar kunoichi, but he would never understand how she had become Konoha's top medic.

Naruto shifted his bright blue eyes to the other ninja in the room, watching the man as he shuddered from whatever ailed him. He was obviously feverish and needed serious attention. But something in those muddy brown eyes was feral and angry, as if he would strike out at anyone who touched him. This was a bad sign. Naruto had to get these two to calm down, or things would go downhill fast.

"Sakura-chan, why don't you go take a break and let me talk to him." He regretted those words immediately when her blazing emerald gaze turned to angrily rake across him.

She could not believe what had just come out of the blond idiot's mouth. How dare he undermine her authority in front of a patient! She ground her teeth before speaking with her jaw clenched tightly.

"If you value your life, you'll leave. Now." Naruto started at the ferocity of her glare and gulped audibly. Every instinct he had told him to flee immediately. This was her turf, after all, but he just couldn't leave the other man to her devices.

The fox-boy didn't even have a chance to make up his mind as he abruptly found himself flying through the open doorway by way of a well-placed kick to his back side. Then, as he collided with the adjacent wall with a resounding thud, the door to the patient's room slammed so loudly that it echoed throughout the whole building. Naruto stood shakily rbbding his bottom as he thought that maybe he should leave the two alone.

Sakura's strength was monstrous, and he feared for his own survival if he stood between her and her prey.

The pink-haired medic took several deep cleansing breaths as she eyed the man huddled in the corner of the room. Aburame Shino had never struck her as the cowering type, but that's exactly what he was doing. She took a step toward him, only to stop in mid-stride as he drew his body closer to itself and flattened against the wall.

The girl took another deep breath and let it out in a heavy sigh. Shino had always been closed off and on edge when anyone entered his personal space, but she had never seen him fear anything in all of the years she had known him. Something had happened on his last mission with Naruto and Hyuuga Neji, and she would need to get him to talk to her so that she could find out what.

Being the top medic in the village, Sakura knew the inner workings of the physiologies of all of the clans that worked in the village's ninja corps. And, when it came to bodily makeup, the Aburame clan was odd at best. The family was very exclusive in its breeding strictly because only certain members of the bloodline were strong enough to wield their particular ninjutsu. It wasn't just anyone who could fuse their chakra with a hive of destruction beetles. Nor could just anyone allow said hive to live within his or her own body.

The fact that Shino had bugs living inside of him had repulsed many ninja and civilian alike, but not Sakura. Perhaps it was her medical nature and her understanding of being different in a world of people who strove to be different, but Sakura had always been fascinated by the Aburame clan's ninjutsu.

Thus, she found it odd that he was acting so out of character. Shino was normally so calm and cool that he made the stoic Neji look hyperactive, and now he was acting scared to death to be touched by anyone. Sakura felt her medical sensibilities activate as she realized that her usual tactic of beating the shit out of anyone who did not follow orders was probably a little too crass for this situation. Delicacy was what she needed right now.

Taking another deep breath, the girl schooled her features into her most charming smile. When she spoke, she projected a voice that was both soft and soothing.

"Shino-san, you're pretty badly injured, and your destruction beetles aren't working to heal you. You have to let me examine you." She held her hands out in front of her body in a gesture that meant that she was not a threat.

Shino stared at her wide-eyed, reminding her of a wild animal that had been cornered by a predator. It was odd seeing him without his dark sunglasses, and she was only slightly shocked to finally get a really good look at the man's features.

He was not rugged like Kiba or Naruto, nor was he pretty like Neji or Sasuke. No, Shino had a look all his own, with a thin firm mouth, slender nose, sharply arched brows, and deep brown eyes. Eyes that looked at her too brightly with little recognition at all.

"Shino, do you even know who I am?" Realization struck her hard when she remembered that Naruto had told her that he had acted like he didn't even know he nor Neji after they had finished their mission. It would seem that during their fight, the bug-ninja had been hit by a random genjutsu, which had caused him to lose all sense of what was familiar to him. What was worse, since the enemy ninja had more than likely been killed, the genjutsu should have ended immediately. Now, more than ever, she need to examine him, and she would probably have to bring in a mind-technique expert to help rid him of this ailment.

It still struck her as odd, though, that his insects had not begun working to help repair his mind. They should have been able to detect the genjustu in order to nullify it. Then again, Sakura being a natural at genjutsu detection had not noticed it right away. And, still she could not be sure until she got closer to him.

She edged her way to the single sized bed that made up the majority of the furnishings in the sparse hospital room. Normally, she would settle in the lone chair that was provided for visitors, but the bed would be the better place to persuade him to sit. There, she would have all the room she needed to do her examination without having to adjust her position.

She watched one of the strongest ninja in the village wrap his arms tighter around his body, while darting his gaze throughout the room. Not once did he focus on anything, as if he were not able to see the room around him. His body was shivering severely, but he had broken out in a feverish sweat that had dampened his hair and clothing. Sakura found herself wishing that she had the inborn patience evident in all other medics. She was afraid that she wouldn't have enough to bring Shino back from his insanity. Still, she had to try.

In her best medic voice, Sakura began to speak. She was aware that Shino and his team had been gone from the village for several months. Perhaps, it would help him to hear about what had been going on in the village while they had been away. She told him of Chouji finding a civilian girl who was as sweet as she was a good cook. How Rock Lee had also found a civilian girl who could handle his hyperactivity with her own. She spoke of how Hinata's tummy bulged more every day in the expectancy of Naruto's son.

At word of Hyuuga Hinata and her pregnancy, Shino's head swiveled toward her. He blinked and his dilated pupils contracted for a split second. That moment of lucidity gave Sakura exactly what she needed to calm him.

So, she began to tell him tales of his genin team.

She spoke in a soft voice of Hinata and how happy she had been since her marriage to the Uzumaki boy. She told Shino how nervous the girl had been when she had come to Sakura thinking she carried a child. How happy she had been when she heard the truth. How excited she had been to tell Naruto that he would be a father.

Then, Sakura switched to Inuzuka Kiba. She told Shino of how strong Kiba had become as the heir to his clan, and how the boy had finally asked Yamanaka Ino to marry him. Her patient became less dazed as she told him how strong a relationship theirs had become, and how great a match they were both as a couple and as shinobi. Ino's medical prowess and mind-techniques offset Kiba's animal nature and abilities perfectly.

The medic then told the man of his team's sensei. Team 8 had been affected severely when Kurenai's lover had been mercilessly murdered, but they had been affected even-more-so when they had found out that she carried his child. Shino had taken personal interest in assisting Kurenai during her pregnancy, and he had finally taken over as team leader when she had retired to raise her son. He calmed tremendously when Sakura told him of how little Asuma was using his mother's genjutsu to wreak havoc throughout the village.

By the time Sakura had finished relating his team's antics, Shino had relaxed substantially. Though, he recognized the relationship between himself and his team, he still did not seem to know the woman sitting before him. She hoped that she could keep him calm enough to examine him.

"Shino-san, I know you don't recognize me, but I need you to sit down so that I can examine you." She spoke even more softly than she had known possible. But, at her words, the insect-wielder tensed and withdrew into his corner. Sakura sighed again and resumed telling him about those he cared about.

Through words, the pink-haired medic was able to get him to calm down again, and he even seemed to doze just a bit with his head rested against the wall. This gave Sakura an opening that she hoped to use to her advantage. While Shino's head drooped, and his eyes drifted closed, she kept up her low commentary. Quietly, soothingly, the girl stood and made her way slowly toward her patient.

As she krept closer, she knew that her actions could prove disasterous to the tenuous control that Shino had on his insanity. But she also knew that if she could get a chakra probe into him, she could heal him. So, she edged her way closer, and when she was inches away, she reached out.

When Sakura's hands made contact, Shino's dark brown eyes flashed open, and he coiled like a snake about to strike or a horse about to bolt. In an attempt to hold on tighter, Sakura wrapped her arms around his shoulders, using her chakra to incapacitate his arms. As Shino began to shake from the exertion of trying to break free of Sakura's chakra enhanced grip, the girl gathered her unique green energy into her fingers and slid them beneath Shino's clothing.

The contact of her cool hands on his heated skin had them both hissing. She hadn't realized just how high his fever had gotten, and she worked to lower it before moving on to his other ailments. As the heat of the high temperature was sapped from his body, Shino sagged against her. He let out a ragged sigh as some of the pressure was relieved from his body.

Sakura probed further. She spread her own chakra throughout his body, looking and feeling, trying to find what was wrong with him. As she examined him thoroughly, she found no trace of any ailment. The medic was beginning to fear that the genjutsu had truly destroyed his mind and that there would be nothing that she could do. As she felt Shino renew his struggle against her hold, she decided that she needed to pull out and call for reinforcements. Ino would surely know how to free his mind.

As she began to pull her chakra from his body, she suddenly came across a place that pricked her consciouness. It was sharp and painfull but tiny. If she had not felt it so strongly at that last moment, she would not have even known it was there. She breathed deeply as relief flooded her because the medic in her knew immediately what was wrong. What was more important...she knew exactly how to fix it.

Sakura's brilliant green eyes glanced up from where she had been concentrating on manipulating her chakra, and she noticed that Shino's eyes held a lucidity that had not been there moments before. He stared at a spot just over her shoulder, a frown furrowing his brows as if he could not quite grasp where he was.

The girl used the shinobi's moment of distraction to her advantage by pressing her palms more forcibly to his flesh. She felt the sharp intake of breath and tensing of muscles that precluded a struggle, but was able to shock him into quiescence with a staggering pulse of her own chakra. This pulse rippled out of her hands, into his skin, and pinpointed on the small blockage within his system.

Whoever had caught the Aburame, had been very good. They had caught him in a strong genjutsu and had guaranteed the illusion's success by piercing his chakra stream with a 'pin' created by their own chakra. That way, even in death, the technique would have chakra to continue to feed off of for some time. Who knew how long Shino would have been under this spell.

Sakura used her own chakra to disintegrate that of the enemy's while coaxing Shino's own to return to its normal circuits. After a few moments of constant contact, she felt his muscles relax almost completely. When she heard the telltale buzz of his insects, she could have cried.

The worst was over. Shino would return to normal.

Well, normal by Aburame standards, anyway.

..................

It had been a few weeks since Sakura had healed Shino. The village had commended her on her efforts, and the Aburame clan had named her their clan medic. She had been honored beyond all belief to know that one of the village's most prestigious clans would trust her with their secrets.

The cool fall evening found the pink-haired medic strolling through a nearby park after her rounds. She had some filing that needed finished, and some patient write-ups that needed completion, but she had just felt compelled to take a nice long walk. So, she meandered along through the wooded park, carrying her shoes in one hand as she picked along a path in the dark.

Her friends had asked her if she was lonely since Sasuke had never returned to her. The quick answer was that, in fact, no she couldn't be lonely with her full plate of working for Tsunade while still completing missions. And deep-down, that was true. She was often too busy to realize how unfulfilled her life truly was. Times like this, or when she sat at home after a trying day at work with no one to talk her problems out with were when she truly felt her lonliness.

No, she didn't need nor did she miss Sasuke.

But, she wished she had someone to talk to.

A noise caught her off guard, and she cursed herself for letting her defences down. She was a kunoichi, and shouldn't be startled so easily, even in her home village. It took a moment to realize that the noise was just a collective humming of insects along the edge of the forest.

Actually, after looking a bit closer, Sakura could tell that the small swarm looked an awful lot like Aburame destruction beetles. Why would an Aburame's swarm be just hanging in the air like that? Generally, when the insects were not being used for battle purposes, they resided within their master's body. Perhaps, their master was injured deep in the woods, and the beetles were seeking assistance.

Having not had the chance to bone up on the habits of destruction beetles, Sakura was instantly worried. She hurriedly slipped her shoes back on and darted beneath the hovering cloud. There, she found a trail of insects floating just beneath the canopy of the woods. The girl's instincts kicked into high gear as she wound her way through the foliage. Before long, she was completely engulfed in plant-life and had no light or point of reference to locate herself. Worry for her own well-being began to set in.

Abruptly, the dense woods parted in front of her, and Sakura all but stumbled into a wide open field. It took only a moment for her to realize that she had made her way onto one of the meadows preserved for the deer that were raised by the Nara family. As she stood on the edge of the field, she watched as a doe wandered her way through the tall grass with a mid-sized fawn following close behind. The glow of the moon softened the hard edges of the landscape and gave the deer an ethereal glow.

A flickering light along her peripheral caught her eye, and she couldn't help but make her way through the wild plants that made up the feeding grounds of the deer. As she got closer to the light, the girl saw several more pinpricks of light fluttering here and there.

Fireflies? Surely, it was too late in the season for them.

Enchanted, the girl stepped closer, and made to catch one of the frolicking insects. Suddenly, she caught sight of a dark figure sitting near her feet. Why had she not sensed him? As she moved to jump away, her vision was clouded by hundreds of destruction bugs. She let out a yelp of alarm and made to kick her attacker.

"It's me, Sakura-san. Please calm down." Shino's voice was calm as always, much different than the last time she has seen him. His hand was surprisingly warm wrapped around her ankle.

"Oh." Was all the girl could muster as she tried to calm her nerves. "H-hi, Shino-san." She watched him as he held up a hand and several of the fireflies landed on his fingertip. "Why are there so many fireflies? Isn't it late for them?"

The man sat quietly for so long that Sakura thought he would not answer her. She had just about given up and was going to turn back to her walk when he answered.

"I called them out here, so that I could return the favor."

Pink eyebrows furrowed in confusion as a pink head tilted to one side in question. Instead of speaking, Shino gestured for her to sit next to him. Once the girl was ensconced on the ground, she opened her mouth to ask his meaning when she was suddenly surrounded with millions of greenish yellow flickering lights. She could have never guessed that there could be so many fireflies in one location. They fluttered and blinked in the dark sky, adding to the misty moonlight. Everything seemed to burn with a bright inner fire.

She turned, gaping at the man next to her. She knew that her shock and question were written on her face, but she could never have expected the answer that he gave.

With the pale yellow glitter of countless flames blazing in his dark eyes, Shino kissed her.

Too stunned to move, Sakura could feel the heat radiating from the bug-ninja as he stole his kiss. His breath was hot and sweet as he suckled from her mouth. She felt him trying to engage her by stroking her top then bottom lip with his own, but she was still too dazed to even react.

Out of breath and panting Shino pulled back from his assault on her senses. He pressed his forehead to hers, and struggled to catch his breath. When he opened his eyes, Sakura was sitting wide-eyed waiting for him.

"What?" Was all that she could get out through her suddenly dry lips. Shino's eyes had darkened to a near black inkiness, and she could sense a hunger in him that she wasn't sure she could sate.

"That genjutsu showed me my greatest fear, Sakura. It showed me the death of my teammates, and I just couldn't hold it together." Realization dawned as Sakura put together the meaning of his words. So the genjutsu had caused his insanity by taking away those that he loved most in the world. "That was one of the worst feelings that I could ever imagine."

Sakura nodded as she pulled back for breathing room. She had lost someone very close to her, and she knew exactly what he meant. He placed a finger under her chin and brought her eyes to meet his. They were bright with the light of the insects.

"Then I woke up from that awful dream, and you were there. You did what you could to save me, and you didn't stop until I was sane again." She tried to look away again. "Sakura, you have no idea what that means to me." His words were a soft intimate whisper by this point. "To know that you, the most beautiful and powerful kunoichi of our generation took time out of your life to care for me."

Sakura stiffened at those words.

"What are you talking about, Shino? You are one of the best shinobi in our village. You're a genius, and you were one of the first of our class to become a jounin." Her voice softened just a little as she continued. "And you're my friend. I couldn't stand to see a friend suffer when I hadn't done all that I could to help."

"And that's why I love you, Sakura."

She gaped at that. Had she heard correctly? "What?"

"I know it's odd, and that you probably don't want to hear that someone like me has watched you for years. I've been there in the shadows since we were kids, and I've watched you suffer and grow. I nearly died when Sasuke walked out on you, and you still focused so much of your energy on getting him back. I just always thought that if I could get you to spend even a small part of that energy on me, that I would make it worth your while."

Sakura stared at the ninja beside her. She had never thought that Shino would feel that way about anyone, let alone her. He was just so stoic and business-oriented. How had she missed him?

The medic looked around them at the magic of the dancing insects and wondered. He had gone through so much trouble to make his confession special. And deep down, she had always admired him. She had never been disgusted by the fact that bugs crawled beneath his skin, nor did she find him nerdy or dorky. In his own right, Aburame Shino was actually pretty cool.

And he loved her.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura thought briefly about how she should react to his confession. But, he heart had already made up her mind. She didn't know what she felt for the bug-man, but she wanted the chance to get to know him better.

The chance to talk to him.

So, without much more thought toward what she should do, the girl with the pink hair flung her arms around Shino's neck and drew him in for a long heart-wrenching kiss.

It was to be one of many.

_fini_


End file.
